I knew quite a bit about Poe before I read this story. "The Raven" had been my favorite poem for several years. I had even committed parts of it to memory along with the spoof about Mrs. Shoe I wrote in the ninth grade. Like "The Raven," I expected "The Mask of the Red Death" to have a dark and gloomy theme and be highly symbolic. I was correct in both cases.
             This short story turned out to be more symbolic than anything else that I have ever read. The plot, characters, setting, and everything else about it were built on representation. I took notes as I read it through the second time to keep everything straight.
             Prince Prospero ruled a land that was devastated by the Red Death, a plague that caused painful bleeding and ultimately resulted in death. After half the population of his kingdom had died, he invited a thousand knights and ladies to come his fortified abbey. They shut themselves in and were seemingly safe from the epidemic.
             While inside, the guests indulged themselves with wine and partying. The party took place in seven separate rooms of different colors. The rooms were blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet and black from east to west respectively. The furnishings and windows of the rooms matched the color of the room except in the black room where the windows were blood red. The duke had come up with the majority of the ideas for the rooms and their décor.
             The black room contained a big black clock with a melodic chime that made everyone very uneasy. When the clock struck midnight, people began to notice a tall, cloaked figure with blood dabbed on his costume and mask. It wasn't Cinderella.
             He was the Red Death. There was no actual figure below the costume, but the disease had entered. The prince was the first to die. Since the plague took only half an hour to destroy its victims, everyone at the party perished that night. The clock stopped workin...